Manchester United have proven they are better than their rivals both offensively and defensively this season, however, it is our attacking football that we pride ourselves on. This dates back to the Busby Babes in the 50’s and is fully part of the United tradition.
However, on a couple of occasions this season in Europe, United have paid more attention to their defensive game, particularly in the semi final against Barcelona. The performance was almost unrecognisable as United, but it got us what we needed, a victory.
There have been some concerns that United might play similar tactics in the final against Chelsea. However, Chelsea’s strengths are not the same as Barcelona. The Spanish club play great attacking football, more than capable of ripping the best defences apart. In contrast, Chelsea play a more controlled, defensive styled game. This should lead to a different performance again them than we had against Barca.
Wayne Rooney has today said that if we are going to get one over on Chelsea tonight, we need to go out playing our typical game, attacking our opposition.
“If we go in there negatively and defensively, Chelsea have a good enough team to punish us,” Rooney said. “We just have to relax and play the free-flowing football we have played most of the season. We said when we got to the final how good it would be to beat an English team, but also how much it would hurt if we lost. To get so close and if we didn’t manage to win it, particularly to an English team like Chelsea, would be a nightmare. We’re meeting up with the Chelsea players a couple of days later with England, so defeat would be pretty difficult to take. Opportunities like this don’t come around very often, so you have to do everything you can to make the most of them. And that’s what we intend to do.”
Should we go on the all out attack? Or should be play a more conservative game?
